tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sexual-harassment-allegations-64899/articlesSexual harassment allegations – The Conversation2024-03-20T20:21:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245942024-03-20T20:21:49Z2024-03-20T20:21:49ZHow ‘himpathy’ helps shield perpetrators of sexual misconduct from repercussions<p>Former U.S. President Donald Trump has faced <a href="https://19thnews.org/2023/10/donald-trump-associates-sexual-misconduct-allegations/">dozens of sexual misconduct allegations</a> over the decades. He’s the first president to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/09/verdict-trump-sexual-assault-trial-00096039">be held liable for sexual assault</a>, and in January, he was ordered to pay over <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/trump-ordered-to-pay-usd83m-to-e-jean-carroll-for-defamation.html">US$80 million</a> to E. Jean Carroll for defamatory statements related to her sexual assault claims. </p>
<p>Despite all this, many of Trump’s supporters anticipate his history of sexual misconduct will <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-sexual-abuse-verdict-2024-republicans-primary-rcna83609">not hurt his chances for re-election</a>. Some even believe he is a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/donald-trump-victim-base-sexual-assualt-jurt-1.6838878">victim of the allegations</a>. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville went so far as to say the sexual assault verdict made him <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jurys-joke-gop-senators-defend-232705069.html">“want to vote for him twice.”</a></p>
<p>In contrast, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/27/e-jean-carroll-testifies-about-online-hate-after-trumps-posts/">Carroll stated under oath</a> that she has experienced “almost an endless stream of people repeating what Donald Trump said — that I was a liar, I was in it for the money, I can’t wait for the payout…that I was too ugly to go on living.” In addition to the barrage of online trolling, she also received <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/10/the-more-women-accuse-him-the-better-he-does-the-meaning-and-misogyny-of-the-trump-carroll-case">death threats and was driven from her home</a>. </p>
<p>These outcomes are consistent with prior research that has found most men accused of sexual misconduct <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818477116">rarely experience career setbacks</a> such as <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/317154">transfers or terminations</a>. In contrast, women who report such incidents often face significant consequences, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1993.1003">job loss, involuntary transfers</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0753">ostracism</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1652">In our recent research paper</a>, we sought to understand why alleged perpetrators of sexual assault often escape repercussions while their accusers incur intense backlash in organizations. </p>
<h2>Responses to sexual misconduct</h2>
<p>Across five studies using real-world stories from organizations, social media responses to #MeToo claims, and experiments, we examined how third parties — people who learn of sexual misconduct claims but are not directly involved — respond to sexual misconduct accusations across several industries. </p>
<p>Our research found third parties tend to evaluate individuals involved in sexual misconduct claims based on their moral values as outlined by <a href="https://moralfoundations.org">moral foundations theory</a>.</p>
<p>This theory argues there are five global moral values: alleviating suffering (care), promoting equity and equality (fairness), being loyal and devoted to your groups (loyalty), showing deference to those in power (authority), and practising physical and spiritual cleanliness (purity). </p>
<p>Research has found that people value the five moral foundations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015141">to differing extents</a>. Some people tend to care more about the foundations of respect for authority, loyalty and purity, while others tend to emphasize care and fairness.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up shot of a man resting his hand on a woman's shoulder as she reaches a hand up to push him away" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582927/original/file-20240319-18-kw88ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Men accused of sexual misconduct rarely experience career setbacks, while women who report such incidents often face significant consequences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>People who highly value respect for authority, loyalty and purity tend to view behaviour that threatens the stability of groups and institutions as immoral. We build on this to suggest that sexual misconduct allegations against men in positions of authority could be offensive to those who endorse these values.</p>
<p>Our research indicates that moral concerns about loyalty, authority and purity can give rise to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/kate-manne-on-the-costs-of-male-entitlement">‘himpathy’</a> — a term coined by philosopher Kate Manne that describes the excessive sympathy directed toward alleged male perpetrators and the anger directed toward accusing female victims. </p>
<h2>Moral drivers of ‘himpathy’</h2>
<p>In a study of 4,000 tweets from the #MeToo movement, we found tweets containing words related to authority, loyalty and purity were more likely to express sympathy toward alleged perpetrators and anger toward accusing victims. </p>
<p>We also found a similar pattern in stories people shared about witnessing or hearing about workplace sexual harassment. People who valued loyalty, authority and purity were more likely to feel sympathetic toward the person accused and angry toward the accuser.</p>
<p>Our studies showed that himpathy negatively impacts judgements about credibility and results in motivations to resolve injustice in favour of the perpetrator rather than the victim. This ultimately leads to a reduced inclination to punish the alleged perpetrator and a greater willingness to penalize the accusing victim.</p>
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<img alt="A group of protesters holding signs with #metoo and #timesup slogans written on them in front of a domed government building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582918/original/file-20240319-8759-a74m71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Women’s March protesters at a rally held in front of San Francisco’s City Hall in January 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>These moral concerns seem to flip the expected narrative on its head: when people care a lot about authority, loyalty and purity, they are more likely to construe the accused as the victim and his accuser as the villain. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that a small yet influential subset of employees is prone to hostile moral reactions toward victims, which might motivate them to protect perpetrators and potentially allow for misconduct to continue.</p>
<h2>What leaders can do</h2>
<p>Although himpathy will likely continue to occur in political arenas and organizations, there are steps managers and leaders can take to prevent himpathy from protecting perpetrators and causing additional harm to victims. </p>
<p>In one of the experiments in our study, we found that leaders can contribute to increased backlash against victims when they question the victim’s morality in front of their co-workers who strongly value loyalty, authority, and purity. Thus, we recommend managers remain as neutral as possible to avoid facilitating premature, inequitable social consequences for either party involved in a sexual assault claim. </p>
<p>We further encourage organizations to hire third-party investigators not emotionally connected to the case. If this isn’t possible, leaders can build impartial investigative committees with employees holding diverse perspectives and values, which would help prevent anyone who may feel sympathetic to the accused from overly influencing disciplinary decisions. </p>
<p>Once an investigation has taken place, the appropriate actions can and should be taken. In doing so, organizations can reduce backlash toward victims who come forward, like Carroll, and ensure appropriate actions are taken when misconduct occurs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Dodson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Dailey Goodwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study examines why women who report sexual misconduct often experience retaliation while men who are alleged perpetrators of sexual assault escape repercussions.Samantha Dodson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sauder School of Business, University of British ColumbiaRachael Dailey Goodwin, Assistant Professor of Management, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1735742021-12-13T16:18:43Z2021-12-13T16:18:43ZBanning non-disclosure agreements isn’t enough to stop unethical workplace leader behaviour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437009/original/file-20211210-21-1mfb6kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=522%2C36%2C4261%2C3936&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ending workplace sexual harassment means going beyond holding perpetrators to account to address a 'network of complicity' that enables unethical conduct. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/banning-non-disclosure-agreements-isn-t-enough-to-stop-unethical-workplace-leader-behaviour" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Just weeks after Prince Edward Island became <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-legislature-passes-nda-sexual-misconduct-bill-1.6251559">the first province in Canada to pass a bill restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-nda-sexual-misconduct-third-reading-1.6252531">on Nov. 17</a>, some harms of NDAs have been in the news. NDAs are contracts in which parties agree not to disclose certain information. </p>
<p>On Dec. 3, CBC reported that according to multiple sources, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-upei-non-disclosure-agreements-harassment-allegations-1.6271071">NDAs were used to silence three individuals who had come forward with sexual harassment complaints</a> at the University of P.E.I.</p>
<p>The board of governors at the University of P.E.I. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-upei-third-party-investigation-president-misconduct-1.6278142?cmp=rss">announced Dec. 8 there would be an independent investigation of allegations of workplace misconduct by the university’s former president</a>, whose conduct was at the centre of two sexual harassment complaints filed by employees in 2013. That year, the university reached settlement agreements about those complaints <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/news/upei-settles-sexual-harassment-complaints-95829/">with the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission</a>.</p>
<p>Some forms of NDAs are merely routine practice, such as when consultants promise not to disclose information about a company that they learn while undertaking a project, or when senior employees quit their jobs and promise not to disclose proprietary information to competitors. Other NDAs, however, are harmful to victims of misconduct.</p>
<h2>When NDAs are harmful</h2>
<p>Organizations — and high-profile figures like <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/harvey-weinstein-pa-ban-ndas-explained-zelda-perkins-1630784">Harvey Weinstein</a> and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trump-sprawling-ndas-now-threatens-090037278.html">Donald Trump</a> — have used NDAs to silence the survivors of illegal and unethical behaviours. NDAs have been used to prevent people from publicly discussing toxic workplace conditions. </p>
<p>We know from our research <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51447615">and from news reports</a> that NDAs also have been used by other universities. NDAs seem especially contradictory in the context of universities given their commitment to seeking truth. As our research in universities, businesses and other workplaces has documented, NDAs can have negative effects on workers and their organizations.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A lock is seen on top of a non-disclosure agreement." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436990/original/file-20211210-159504-1yjg60c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">NDAs have been used to prevent people from publicly discussing toxic workplace conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Movements in Canada and the United States have called for the ban of NDAs. For example, California Senator Connie M. Levya <a href="https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/press-releases?page=16">called for such a ban to end the “curtain of secrecy”</a> resulting from such agreements. The #MeToo movement highlighted problems of NDAs in a variety of settings including entertainment, broadcast, journalism and high-tech industries. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buying-silence-we-cant-stop-workplace-sexual-harassment-without-banning-non-disclosure-agreements-172856">Buying silence: we can't stop workplace sexual harassment without banning non-disclosure agreements</a>
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<p>Julie Macfarlane, an <a href="https://profjuliemac.com/about/">emerita professor of law</a> at the University of Windsor, co-founded a global campaign — <a href="https://cantbuymysilence.com/the-campaign/">Can’t Buy My Silence</a> — to end
the misuse of NDAs. Former Fox News Anchor, Gretchen Carlson, who signed an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/15/media/gretchen-carlson-fox-news-nda-reliable-sources/index.html">NDA as part of her $20 million settlement</a> for sexual harassment by the then-<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/roger-ailes-resigns-fox-news-ceo-n614396">CEO Roger Ailes</a>, launched a nonprofit, <a href="https://www.liftourvoices.org/">Lift Our Voices</a>, with the mission of ending NDAs. </p>
<p>She tells as much of her story as she can in a <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/gretchen-carlson-to-discuss-fight-against-ndas-in-new-documentary/ar-AAKDGUN">documentary on NDAs</a>. The <em>New York Times</em> reported in 2019 that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/14/arts/metoo-movement-nda.html">12 U.S. states have bills to restrict NDAs</a> in instances of sexual harassment and assault, but only New Jersey has effectively made NDAs unenforceable when victims violate their terms. California has <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-continues-to-whittle-away-non-disclosure-and-non-disparagement-clauses">strengthened its NDA restrictions, which will take effect in 2022</a>.</p>
<h2>Limiting NDAs is just the first step</h2>
<p>Limiting NDAs, as the P.E.I. bill does, is a good first step, but much more needs to be done. </p>
<p>NDAs are not the main enabler of persistent unethical behaviour in workplaces. They are merely a symptom of a much larger problem. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">Our research</a> found that the root cause of widespread and persistent unethical behaviour in workplaces is networks of complicity: networks formed by perpetrators that increase perpetrators’ power, and disguise and hide wrongdoings. People who are part of these networks prey on anyone who resists the actions of the perpetrator or the wider group. </p>
<p>We interviewed 28 people in diverse organizations in which persistent sexual harassment had occurred. This included people at nine different universities located in both Canada and the U.S., and people from other types of organizations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman hold up a post-it that says 'me too.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436984/original/file-20211210-159504-azvcv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sexual harassment and other toxic workplace behaviour goes unaddressed when networks formed by perpetrators disguise and hide wrongdoing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Networkers inside and outside organizations</h2>
<p>Perpetrators are excellent networkers inside and outside their organizations. They lure people into their networks of complicity with rewards, favours and undeserved promotions, or with fear and intimidation. While their behaviour is unethical, perpetrators may also be charismatic and charming. </p>
<p>They control information and build myths about themselves, their successes and their importance to the organization.</p>
<p>Over time, the network of complicity becomes powerful and entrenched. It causes considerable harm to victims and organizations. </p>
<p>The network of complicity typically is supported and enabled by the passivity of bystanders. They often suffer from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2004.10639158">moral myopia, a distortion of moral vision in which ethical issues do not come clearly into focus, and moral muteness, in which they do not talk about ethical issues</a>. </p>
<p>Network members create and perpetuate toxic work cultures as they turn a blind eye to persistent unethical behaviour or even participate in it. They instil a sense of helplessness and dismay among employees, causing turnover to increase, and often the most talented employees exit the organization. Employees who remain become disheartened and lose their motivation to perform.</p>
<h2>Complicity in universities</h2>
<p>The membership of networks of complicity typically consists of influential people from inside and outside the organization. In the case of universities, for example, network of complicity members might include senior university administrators, members of the human resources department, professors and staff, as well as outsiders such as government supporters and members of regional educational associations. </p>
<p>The network has the tools and the power that enable it to influence, control and victimize people in the organization. NDAs are only one tool among many used by networks of complicity to silence victims. </p>
<p>The networks also use intimidation, fear, rumours that denigrate objectors or witnesses of unethical behaviour, threats of demotion or job loss and various types of uncivil behaviour, to name a few. Even less severe unethical behaviour by network members, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.6.1.64">incivility, can be damaging to individuals</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15416518.2019.1604202">and organizations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen in a meeting room where someone is entering holding a briefcase." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436986/original/file-20211210-172173-1v4d0aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Networks of people contribute to enabling unethical behaviour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Addressing unethical behaviour</h2>
<p>NDAs that silence victims of persistent unethical behaviour need to be banned, but uncovering and halting persistent unethical behaviour in workplaces requires much more. </p>
<p>Perpetrators, of course, must be removed, but that is not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117">enough because the network of complicity typically remains intact</a>. Leaders must proactively work to identify and disband the network of complicity. For example, some members may need to be dismissed, but others could be reassigned to different units. </p>
<p>Survivors, who typically have been disenfranchised and isolated by the network of complicity, must be provided the resources they need and networked into the organization in meaningful ways. Importantly, the organizational culture must be transformed, which is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1825114">typically a long-term endeavour, but it can be done</a>. </p>
<p>Where leaders themselves are involved in these networks, there are only two options: an internal, informal leader with the skills to give voice to their values and inspire their co-workers to take collective action must emerge; or boards or external regulators must order investigations to be undertaken by unbiased third parties. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that investigators must go beyond looking at individual wrongdoers and identify the members of the network of complicity who supported them. These people also should be held to account.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research in universities and businesses experiencing persistent sexual harassment shows non-disclosure agreements can have negative effects on workers and their organizations.Peggy Cunningham, Professor of Business, Dalhousie UniversityMinette Drumwright, Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1565182021-03-05T14:56:55Z2021-03-05T14:56:55ZWhy Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond were grilled by Scotland’s parliament – a legal expert explains<p>It is rare that a parliamentary panel into the creation and use of an internal government policy would get full-blown live media coverage, never mind an audience of thousands tuning in agog to hear the evidence.</p>
<p>But a recent Scottish parliament hearing was not like any other held in Holyrood since its inception in 1999. Scotland’s first minister, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicola-Sturgeon">Nicola Sturgeon</a>, was being quizzed about her government’s <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/handling-of-harassment-complaints-involving-current-or-former-ministers/">harassment policy</a> and the mishandling of its use in the case of two complainers against former first minister Alex Salmond. The full session lasted a marathon eight hours.</p>
<p>The spur to this inquiry was Salmond winning a <a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-salmond-court-debacle-could-kill-off-sturgeons-hopes-of-new-snp-independence-surge-109818">judicial review two years ago</a>. This preceded his criminal trial and <a href="https://theconversation.com/alex-salmond-acquittal-looming-fall-out-for-snp-could-ignite-civil-war-134820">acquittal one year ago</a> over several sexual offence charges including those brought by the two original complainers. </p>
<p>The review sought to challenge the policy used by the government to investigate Salmond. He won when it was discovered that the investigator of the complaints had previously been involved in the case, giving an appearance of bias. This internal mess caused parliament to set up a cross-party inquiry to which Salmond and Sturgeon would give evidence.</p>
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<p>On the eve of Sturgeon’s appearance, the government – under duress – <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56231222">released the legal advice</a> it received about Salmond’s action, further heightening the tension. Documents revealed that as more information was discovered regarding the specifics of the complaints against Salmond, the legal counsel for the government realised it would lose.</p>
<p>The Conservative Party – the official opposition at Holyrood – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/02/lawyers-warned-scottish-government-of-danger-of-defeat-in-salmond-case">called for Sturgeon’s immediate resignation</a> and tabled a vote of no confidence, claiming the advice showed the government had abused its power and wasted public money in pursuing a “doomed” legal action.</p>
<h2>Effective rebuttal</h2>
<p>These relatively esoteric issues of law and policy were combined with deeply personal issues which made the hearings essential viewing for many. For more than a quarter of a century, Salmond had been Sturgeon’s long-term political mentor and confidante, cabinet colleague and friend.</p>
<p>She began the hearing with an explanation of her personal devastation and the “moment in my life that I will never forget” when Salmond outlined to her the allegations of his behaviour. Despite their friendship, she made it clear she believed it was important to investigate his “deeply inappropriate behaviour” and not follow the “age old path” of defending powerful men.</p>
<p>Throughout the day, Sturgeon’s fairly effective rebuttal of most of the arguments was tempered with a degree of self-reflection and regret. She noted that Salmond, who had given evidence the week before, had no equivalent moment nor did he apologise to any of the women who had complained about his behaviour.</p>
<p>Sturgeon suggested that Salmond had wanted her to intervene in the complaints procedure to suggest an alternative remedy like some form of mediation, but she had refused. That clearly would have breached the complaints procedure, which states the first minister should not have no involvement in the process at all. In Salmond’s later written evidence, he <a href="https://news.stv.tv/politics/key-dates-in-the-salmond-saga-as-sturgeon-to-appear-at-inquiry?top">states</a> the first minister “suggested that she would intervene in favour of a mediation process at an appropriate stage” but subsequently decided against intervening.</p>
<p>The more lurid claims and innuendo of <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f9934ede-b60b-475c-a31e-b64874b767a1">conspiracy</a> that had circulated in political circles over the last few weeks were also dealt with. It was alleged that material that incriminated the first minister was being covered up. However as Sturgeon outlined, most of the evidence that had been withheld from the committee was related to Salmond’s criminal trial. </p>
<p>There is still a live <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/11/spectator-wins-challenge-to-court-order-in-alex-salmond-case">court order</a> in place which prevents the identification of the women who accused Salmond of offences. This means any information that could indirectly identify those women cannot be published.</p>
<p>The first minister faced head-on the political frenzy around the legal advice on the judicial review, which centred around the issue of whether her governmnent was pursuing a lost cause. This, in her critics’ view, resulted in the public purse paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds in Salmond’s legal costs.</p>
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<p>However, if <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/legal-advice-related-to-the-parliamentary-inquiry-into-the-scottish-governments-handling-of-harassment-complaints-sghhc/">the documents</a> are examined closely, the Scottish government initially was advised by its legal counsel that it had a strong case in defending its harassment and complaints policy.</p>
<p>Documents related to Salmond’s investigation, and the mistakes made, took months to be produced by the government. Sturgeon conceded this was a “catastrophic” error. This gave an appearance of “apparent bias” and blew apart the Scottish government’s case. So although the overall policy was capable of being defended, the application of it meant the government would have to concede defeat. This was agreed in December 2018, weeks before Salmond’s court victory.</p>
<p>Sturgeon was confident in her evidence on this issue and believed the government had a stateable case on their policy which they were prepared to defend. Given the initial advice, it would be difficult to say after Wednesday’s evidence that pursuing this legal case was one of outright recklessness, which her more strident <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56259056">critics</a> have claimed. </p>
<h2>Shaky ground</h2>
<p>Where Sturgeon looks weaker is on the charge of misleading parliament over when she first heard of the allegations against Salmond – which would constitute a clear breach of the <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2018-edition/">ministerial code</a>. It has been revealed she met with an associate of Salmond on March 29 2018 and discussed the accusations, five days before April 2, the date she told parliament she had learned of them. </p>
<p>Sturgeon claimed she had forgotten about the March meeting, but her evidence was markedly less confident. For someone who demonstrated a forensic grasp of detail and chronology of events, this did seem surprising.</p>
<p>Ultimately the absence of documentary evidence around those meetings means it becomes a question of credibility. A parliamentary committee made up of competing political factions may find this impossible to reach consensus on. However, the potential breach of the code is subject to another investigation by the wholly independent figure <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202100139181/">James Hamilton QC</a>, an Irish lawyer who will report in the next few weeks.</p>
<p>The first minister was confident throughout most of the day and dealt robustly with the majority of the issues, particularly, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/03/nicola-sturgeon-chokes-back-tears-rejects-absurd-claims-destroy/">in her words</a>, the more “absurd” claims of a plot. But questions still remain over some of the details of her meetings with Salmond, which may be seen as a breach of the Scottish government ministerial code. All this just eight weeks ahead of an election to the parliament that could decide whether the country again goes to the polls on the issue of independence from the rest of the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick McKerrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>She defended herself robustly and humbly admitted to errors, but the first minister is still on shaky ground when it comes to crucial questions.Nick McKerrell, Senior Lecturer in Law, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1334472020-03-18T12:05:12Z2020-03-18T12:05:12ZStudents less likely to report sexual harassment when the perpetrator is a professor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320904/original/file-20200316-27638-1a6uqr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some victims say their reports drew retaliation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-hold-handkerchief-and-filling-sexual-royalty-free-image/671065332?adppopup=true">pic_studio/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2017, Karen Kelsky, a <a href="http://theprofessorisin.com/about-the-professor-2/">consultant</a> for people looking for academic jobs, launched a <a href="https://theprofessorisin.com/2017/12/01/a-crowdsourced-survey-of-sexual-harassment-in-the-academy/">survey</a> to capture people’s experiences of sexual harassment at colleges and universities. I took interest in this survey because it was <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/12/08/what-can-crowdsourced-survey-sexual-harassment-academia-tell-us-about-problem">widely reported</a> and sparked a lot of interest how sexual assault was affecting women on campus.</p>
<p>The crowdsourced survey – which began shortly after the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/arts/tarana-burke-metoo-anniversary.html">#MeToo hashtag went viral</a> – drew more than 2,000 responses from people from throughout the United States and other places around the world. The respondents included people who indicated that they had been sexually harassed as undergraduates, graduate students or as faculty. </p>
<p>Even though the survey is based on self-selected respondents who chose to report on things that may have happened years ago, I still believe the survey approximates the occurrence of sexual harassment on campus.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://rossier.usc.edu/faculty-and-research/directories/a-z/profile/?id=221">educational psychologist</a> who focuses on how <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2017.1401498">digital technologies</a> can be used to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-017-0226-9">promote equity</a> and educational achievement, I wanted to know more. So I contacted Kelsky to ask if I could take a deeper look into the data. She agreed.</p>
<p>I began to systematically examine the data from Kelsky’s survey along with my Ph.D. student, <a href="https://rossier.usc.edu/faculty-and-research/phd-directories/phd-a-z/phd-profile/?id=105">Clare Baek</a>. Our study, published in March in <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230312">PLOS ONE</a>, found that students were 1.6 times more likely to not report their experiences when compared to faculty. We also found that students in the life and physical sciences – that is, subjects like biology and physics – were 1.7 times more likely to not report their experiences when compared to students in other disciplines. </p>
<p>Men represented 90% of the reported perpetrators of sexual harassment, according to this self-reported survey.</p>
<p>Respondents were asked if there were “institutional responses to the harassment.” After coding the data, we came up with six categories. On average, 34.3% of all respondents wrote that no action was taken, after they disclosed it, 36.9% did not report the incident, 9.3% reported that some action was taken by the institution, 6.6% reported that the action taken was unclear, 8% reported some sort of retaliation, and 5% did not fall into the above categories.</p>
<p>The decision to report or not report varied across disciplines, with roughly 50% of respondents in the physical sciences and engineering choosing to not report the incident. In contrast, only 18% of staff chose to not report the incident. Members of professional schools, humanities departments and social science departments were in the middle – 25% chose to not report the incident. </p>
<h2>Keeping quiet</h2>
<p>Kelsky’s survey also asked respondents about what happened and when, and what kind of impact the harassment had on their career, mental health and life choices.</p>
<p>We were interested in studying the emotional content of responses to those questions, so we analyzed responses with “natural language processing,” a data science technique that, <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2898607.2898768">among other things</a>, shows the extent of positive, negative or neutral <a href="https://doi.org/10.2200/S00416ED1V01Y201204HLT016">sentiment</a> within a response.</p>
<p>Respondents were asked to state what type of institution they were at, such as an elite or Ivy League school, or a small liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Our analysis found that when it came to mental health, the sentiment was more negative for student respondents to the survey, compared to faculty and staff respondents. Responses from students in the social sciences, who attended elite or Ivy League schools, were more negative than students who attended other types of schools, no matter what they were studying. </p>
<h2>Consequences of telling</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest that power matters when it comes to choosing not to report an incident. If the perpetrator was a faculty member, for example, respondents were 1.5 times more likely to not report the sexual harassment than when the perpetrator was not faculty. This shows why it is important for schools to examine how they go about taking reports of sexual harassment. It also shows the need for schools to establish clear policies and procedures on how to make a report of sexual harassment.</p>
<p>Among other things, schools should be taking a close look at whether there is something about the reporting process that is making students less likely to report. Are whistleblowers who come forth protected against retaliation? And, are there enough services in place, such as counseling, to help alleged victims after a report has been made?</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Aguilar has received funding from the American Educational Research Association, 2U Inc., and the USC Rossier Herman & Rasiej K-5 Mathematics Initiative. Stephen Aguilar is affiliated with AERA, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Learning Analytics Research, and International Society of the Learning Sciences. He also serves on the E+K Program's Equity Research Advisory Board.
</span></em></p>A researcher takes a closer look at an online compilation of sexual harassment reports on campus.Stephen Aguilar, Assistant Professor of Education, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167942019-05-21T11:31:29Z2019-05-21T11:31:29ZWomen take a hit for reporting sexual harassment, but #MeToo may be changing that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275498/original/file-20190520-69192-777fs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=589%2C614%2C4742%2C3022&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cultural shift may be underway that reporting sexual harassment won't necessarily impede a woman's career advancement.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-businessman-caucasian-businesswoman-shaking-hands-1022440006">fizkes/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/us/sexual-harrasment-weinstein-trump.html">An unprecedented number of women have come forward</a> to share stories of workplace sexual harassment since the #MeToo movement gained momentum in late 2017. </p>
<p>Yet their allegations are not always well received. Questions like “What took her so long?” and “Why didn’t she report it when it happened?” have become a refrain. They imply that women who initially chose not to report sexual harassment handled it incorrectly - even incompetently.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=scTndGkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my research</a> shows that woman have rational reasons for staying quiet because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219842147">reporting sexual harassment can come with career risks</a>. An experiment I ran five times in the early months of the #MeToo movement, though, suggest that things may be changing for the better.</p>
<h2>Self-reporting stymies promotion</h2>
<p>In a national survey experiment, I asked Americans to read the fictitious employee file of a woman named Sarah, described as a satisfactory employee who was enthusiastic about her work. Everyone read the same information about her work performance. </p>
<p>However, study participants saw different information about mistreatment Sarah had experienced. In one condition, Sarah reported to HR that a coworker had repeatedly made sexual comments about her body; in a second condition, she reported that a coworker had repeatedly shouted and sworn at her. In a third condition, no harassment was reported. Then I asked participants to rate how likely they would be to promote Sarah.</p>
<p>Each group of participants should have been equally likely to promote Sarah in every case. After all, everyone in the study had identical information about her performance, the most relevant information for making decisions about advancement.</p>
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<p>But that’s not what happened. Participants were just as likely to promote Sarah when she reported the nonsexual harassment as when there was no harassment at all. But they were reluctant to promote her when she reported sexual harassment. </p>
<p>Simply by following the rules – using her company’s designated procedure to report the sexual harassment – Sarah’s career advancement was jeopardized. </p>
<p>This finding suggests that women who hesitate to report sexual harassment are acting not incompetently, but perceptively and rationally. </p>
<h2>Not reporting to avoid stigma</h2>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01312.x">research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2000.tb00319.x">shows</a> that women sometimes choose not to report or even label unwanted sexual interactions as sexual harassment in part to avoid the perceived stigma of being a target of sexual harassment. </p>
<p>If reporting sexual harassment comes at the cost of future advancement, choosing not to do so becomes strategic.</p>
<p>Why, though, would people hesitate to promote a woman who reported sexual harassment? Cultural stereotypes about the kind of women who are thought to report sexual harassment help to explain. </p>
<p>A woman who reports sexual harassment <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9367-1">is often viewed</a> as conniving, deceitful or overly sensitive. People wonder whether she fabricated the account to sabotage a coworker or was overreacting to a friendly remark. </p>
<p>Consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/things-have-changed-since-anita-hill-sort-of-103592">example of Anita Hill</a>. When she testified in 1991 that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had harassed her, Hill was labeled “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/kavanaugh-s-accuser-should-unfortunately-expect-anita-hill-treatment-republicans-ncna910226">a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty</a>.”</p>
<p>Indeed, I found part of the reason that participants were less willing to promote Sarah when she had reported sexual harassment was because they saw her as lower in characteristics like warmth and social skills.</p>
<p>A clear implication of this study is that it does not make sense to doubt or denigrate people who choose not to report sexual harassment. </p>
<p>In fact, there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0432.00003">no surefire response available to targets of sexual harassment</a> that will improve the situation; while strategies like reporting, direct confrontation or avoiding the harasser are sometimes effective, they sometimes only make things worse. </p>
<p>So although reporting sexual harassment might help, it may simultaneously jeopardize one’s career advancement. Caught in this catch-22, there is no one right way for a victim to respond to sexual harassment. </p>
<p>What can be done to make reporting sexual harassment less risky? There are two ways forward.</p>
<p>First, bystanders who observe sexual harassment may be able to help. When study participants read a file in which a coworker, acting as a bystander, reported that Sarah had been sexually harassed, Sarah’s promotion chances were not damaged. Stepping in to report sexual harassment on someone else’s behalf, with their consent, may therefore help defray the costs to the victim of reporting it. </p>
<p>Yet this solution doesn’t change the unfair reality that women are penalized for speaking out against sexual harassment. To address this requires cultural change.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275497/original/file-20190520-69199-1qrmi4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">As a cultural movement, #MeToo may be shifting individuals’ attitudes.</span>
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<h2>Can #MeToo reduce the penalty?</h2>
<p>My research suggests that the United States may be in the midst of such a shift. I first ran the experiment in early October of 2017, only weeks before the #MeToo hashtag began trending. As women spoke out about their experiences of sexual harassment en masse, I reran the experiment.</p>
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<p>As the #MeToo movement unfolded, bias against the woman who reported sexual harassment faded. Indeed, by early 2018, participants were just as likely to promote Sarah when she reported sexual harassment as any other case. </p>
<p>This trend should be interpreted cautiously – a year has passed since I fielded the study, and people who speak out against sexual violence continue to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/us/politics/kavanaugh-blasey-hearing-reactions.html">questioned</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/02/27/r-kelly-faces-counts-sexual-abuse-charges-these-super-fans-it-doesnt-matter/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a443b510016e">and</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/arts/music/michael-jackson-leaving-neverland-fans.html">maligned</a>. There is no guarantee that people who report sexual harassment will now be treated fairly, so it is still reasonable to worry that reporting it may harm one’s career. </p>
<p>Yet at the very least, these changes suggest that cultural views about women who report sexual harassment are malleable. By illuminating how widespread and pervasive sexual harassment remains in the U.S., those who spoke out about their own harassment may have shifted how Americans view others following in their footsteps.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloe Grace Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By chance, a sociologist started an experiment the day sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein became public. As the #MeToo movement gained steam, people’s responses changed.Chloe Grace Hart, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167152019-05-13T10:41:21Z2019-05-13T10:41:21ZWorried about sexual harassment – or false allegations? Our team asked Americans about their experiences and beliefs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273335/original/file-20190508-183089-qnu2eb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In a survey, 81% of women and 43% of men said that they had experienced sexual harassment or assault at least once.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/metoo-new-movement-736146328?src=j_id6a7UrN2b__UmvEa71g-1-2">Mihai Surdu/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the launch of #MeToo, there’s been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/23/us/metoo-replacements.html">a lot of attention</a> on problems of sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this has not amounted to much progress in terms of reductions in sexual harassment and assault or improvements in conviction rates. This is in part due to the social and political dissension regarding <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/01/trump-jr-says-wave-sexual-assault-accusations-make-him-worry-sons-more-than-daughters/">the veracity of accusations</a> and what constitutes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/politics/betsy-devos-sexual-assault-title-ix.html">fairness of due process when cases arise</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/our-work/nationalstudy/2019study/">Our new study</a>, published April 30 by nonprofit Stop Street Harassment, in partnership with our team at UC San Diego’s Center on Gender Equity and Health, as well as others, looks closely at the scope of these issues in our country. </p>
<p>The headline figure is that, as has long been known, sexual harassment affects most women and many men. </p>
<p>However, our study dug deeper, providing insight into three questions that are central to today’s media coverage of #MeToo.</p>
<h2>1. Have the rates of sexual harassment and assault changed with the #MeToo movement?</h2>
<p>In the nationally representative sample of the approximately 2,000 Americans whom we surveyed in early 2019, 81% of women and 43% of men said that they had experienced sexual harassment or assault at least once in their lives.</p>
<p>Eighteen percent of women and 16% of men reported recent sexual harassment or assault in the last six months, which is <a href="http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Full-Report-2018-National-Study-on-Sexual-Harassment-and-Assault.pdf">not a significant change from 2018</a>. </p>
<p>The overall prevalence of sexual harassment or assault throughout one’s lifetime also showed no change.</p>
<p>These findings suggest that <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2018-12-21/35-metoo-sparked-surge-in-awareness-about-sexual-harassment-study">improved awareness of #MeToo</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/world/europe/metoo-backlash-gender-equality-davos-men.html">potential backlash against it</a> have not altered the incidence or reported prevalence of these abuses.</p>
<p>However, while these data indicate no change in survey reports, U.S. crime data indicate that more people are <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6466">reporting sexual harassment and assault to the police</a>, possibly due to greater comfort engaging the criminal justice system thanks to #MeToo. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, high rates of sexual harassment and assault, particularly for women, continue to be a norm in the U.S.</p>
<h2>2. How safe from sexual harassment are students and workers?</h2>
<p>Our study suggests that most sexual harassment occurs on the street or in other public venue.</p>
<p>However, 38% of women and about 15% of men have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and at school.</p>
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<p>Harassment in high school was particularly common, reported by 27% of women and 11% of men. Smaller but significant groups said they had experienced harassment at their middle school and college campuses.</p>
<p>This suggests that, despite concerns about sexual harassment in U.S. schools and workplaces, long-standing federal policies from <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/sexhar00.html">the Department of Education</a> and the <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment_guidance.cfm">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission</a> against these abuses are not effectively preventing perpetrators from acting anyway, typically with impunity.</p>
<h2>3. How safe are boys and men from false allegations of sexual harassment and assault?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/10/20/measuring-the-metoo-backlash">False allegations</a> of sexual harassment and assault against high-profile individuals are a growing public concern. Some have expressed worry that there is great risk for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/01/trump-jr-says-wave-sexual-assault-accusations-make-him-worry-sons-more-than-daughters/?utm_term=.944e58c5a5e1">unfair and unfounded accusations against men and boys</a>.</p>
<p>These fears were raised by some, for example, in national discussions of the allegations against <a href="https://www.vox.com/a/sexual-harassment-assault-allegations-list/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.</p>
<p>While our data reveal that most people believe survivors to varying degrees, one in 20 women and one in 12 men felt that most or all of the allegations in recent high-profile cases were “false and that accusers are purposefully lying for attention or money.” </p>
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<p>While one-third of respondents reported ever perpetrating sexual harassment or assault, only 2% of men and 1% of women said they had ever been accused of these abuses. That shows that, while ongoing public perceptions of false accusations as a major risk persist, any accusation, including false accusations, is in fact very rare.</p>
<h2>What does this all mean?</h2>
<p>Sexual harassment and assault is a persistent issue in the U.S. Our study underscores that it’s particularly common for American children, disproportionately girls. Furthermore, many are also enduring this harassment in the workplace.</p>
<p>When these abuses occur, most bear them in silence, without accusations against those at fault. How do I know this? Well, this is the part where I cannot tell you based on our research, but because I did not tell anyone when I was sexually harassed in school and early in my career: #MeToo.</p>
<p>We say nothing because it is not worth the burden – of tackling institutional accountability when there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/nearly-all-sexual-harassment-at-work-goes-unreported-and-those-who-do-report-often-see-zero-benefit-108378">little likelihood of repercussions</a> for those who victimize us; of trying to justify or prove ourselves in environments where people continue to <a href="https://qz.com/1404845/indelible-in-the-hippocampus-christine-blasey-ford-schooled-the-senate-on-the-neurochemistry-of-ptsd/">believe that false accusations and confused memories are common</a>; of taking the time to process what happened rather than just focusing on moving forward, and avoiding those trying to harm or impede us.</p>
<p>I believe that the U.S. does too little to educate the public regarding the nature and scale of problem, or the fact that men are far more likely to be victims of these abuses rather than of false allegations related to their perpetration. </p>
<p>My team’s hope with this work is to give light to the risk and harms of sexual harassment and assault as a social epidemic in our country. Given how rare it is for those affected to seek help, the U.S. needs to prioritize its prevention for the benefit of all, regardless of gender.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Raj receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, UNICEF and the California Coalition against Sexual Assault (CALCASA). </span></em></p>Since #MeToo, the number of women and men who say that they’ve been sexually assaulted or harassed in recent months has not changed much.Anita Raj, Professor of Society and Health, Medicine, and Education Studies, and Founding Director of the Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122732019-03-05T11:39:20Z2019-03-05T11:39:20Z#MeToo whistleblowing is upending a century-old legal precedent in US demanding loyalty to the boss<p>When was the last time you agreed to keep a secret? </p>
<p>Perhaps it was a personal confidence shared by a close family member or friend. Or it might have been in a contract with your employer to safeguard confidential information. Either way, you probably felt a strong sense of obligation to keep that secret.</p>
<p>At least when it comes to the workplace, that’s no accident. In the United States, the idea that workers <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2086#lf1433-03_label_1171">owe their employers</a> a duty of loyalty goes <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/796874">back more than 100 years</a>. It is deeply ingrained in legal rules and American culture.</p>
<p>But it <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-michael-cohens-betrayal-reveals-about-our-messed-up-workplace-loyalties-112731">has been fraying</a>, most recently in the form of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s damning congressional testimony against the president.</p>
<p>This trend was also on full display when the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017. #MeToo was, of course, about sexual harassment and assault. But it was also a form of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-me-too-anniversary/">mass whistleblowing</a>. The movement signaled victims’ willingness – at an unprecedented scale – to defy promises of secrecy to their employers in service of a larger truth by revealing their experiences of workplace harassment.</p>
<p>While researching a book on the duty of loyalty, I realized that the #MeToo movement isn’t merely a rift in the ordinary order of workplace relationships in the United States. It is part a larger legal and cultural shift that has been in the works for decades.</p>
<h2>Employee fealty</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/fac_schol/372/">duty of loyalty</a> is the idea that you “cannot bite the hand that feeds you and insist on staying for future banquets,” as an American labor arbitrator wrote in 1972. </p>
<p>It’s a <a href="https://www.ali.org/publications/show/employment-law/">bedrock principle</a> that courts apply to employment disputes, even if you didn’t sign a contract promising to keep an employer’s secrets.</p>
<p>The duty of loyalty is why employers can demand that you sign a confidentiality agreement at the start of employment. It’s why workers can’t download their employer’s trade secrets on a thumb drive and use it in their new job. And why companies are able to persuade judges to enforce noncompete agreements. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">University of Iowa Law Professor Lea Vandervelde recounts cases from the late 1800s, when business owners persuaded courts that female workers should be ‘faithful’ to their employer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This duty is also why American courts were slow to protect whistleblowers for disclosing information that betrayed their employer but protected the public interest. As recently as the 1980s, <a href="https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/fac_schol/372/">most state courts</a> did not recognize an employee’s right to protest or expose illegal or harmful conduct. </p>
<p>In a 1982 case in Texas, a nursing home fired a nurse’s aid who complained when her boss refused to call a doctor for a patient suffering a stroke. Unmoved by the nurse’s efforts to save the patient, the court <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=18326379865865470100">dismissed</a> the employee’s case.</p>
<h2>A shift toward protecting whistleblowers</h2>
<p>In recent decades, however, courts and lawmakers in the United States have shifted away from prioritizing an employer’s right to loyalty and toward reaping the public benefits of whistleblowers. </p>
<p>As legal scholar Richard Moberly <a href="http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/lawfacpub/45/">documented</a>, the U.S. Supreme Court has been remarkably consistent in recent decades in protecting private sector whistleblowers. Congress has <a href="http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/lawfacpub/153/">moved in the same direction</a>, taking on whistleblower protections in major federal legislation, including the <a href="https://www.whistleblowers.gov/statutes/aca">Affordable Care Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.whistleblowers.gov/statutes/dfa_1057">Dodd-Frank financial reform statute</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, the righteousness of whistleblowers has become a rare matter of bipartisan consensus. In 2017, every lawmaker in both the House and Senate <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/585/actions">voted in favor</a> of a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/585/text">law expanding whistleblower protections</a> for federal employees. </p>
<p>Over the last 10 years, even social media posts have been recognized as a form of whistleblowing. In 2011, the National Labor Relations Board, which regulates unionization and collective bargaining in the United States, declared that social media posts are <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/acting-general-counsel-releases-report-social-media-cases">legally protected</a> if their aim is to mobilize others to address workplace issues. </p>
<p>To its credit, the labor relations board realized that many important workplace discussions now happen over social media. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261701/original/file-20190301-110119-s4pqdh.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2002, Time named three whistleblowers its ‘Person of the Year.’ Fifteen years later, scores of women who broke their silence over the sexual misconduct of past employers earned that distinction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Time magazine</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>#MeToo crosses the Rubicon</h2>
<p>The #MeToo movement <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment_new.cfm">did not represent a tidal wave</a> of recent harassment – many of the revelations were years old. What made it historic was the way so many women were willing to publicly expose their employer and thus cross the Rubicon to whistleblower status. </p>
<p>It was a combination of online and offline whistleblowing. A <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-secret-settlements">number of the women</a> who disclosed information to the media against <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/11/15/564310240/times-reporters-describe-how-a-paper-trail-helped-break-the-weinstein-story">Harvey Weinstein</a> and <a href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/nda-agreement.php/">other prominent men</a> did so in defiance of contracts they signed promising secrecy. The millions of others who posted on social media may have also theoretically risked breach of contract claims – although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/retaliation-guidance.cfm">offers a form</a> of whistleblower protection.</p>
<p>The political response to #MeToo has also tended to treat it as a whistleblower story. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2018/10/04/metoo-me-too-sexual-assault-survivors-rights-bill/1074976002/0">Few</a> of the <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/07/31/metoo-has-changed-our-culture-now-its-changing-our-laws">enacted</a> state laws or <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-wave-of-women-now-in-congress-could-turn-the-metoo-movement-into-concrete-action-106199">proposed federal laws</a> alter existing rules regarding workplace harassment. Instead, <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/07/31/metoo-has-changed-our-culture-now-its-changing-our-laws">these bills</a> have primarily sought to make it harder for U.S. employers to keep harassment secret.</p>
<h2>The end of loyalty?</h2>
<p>Employees are increasingly willing to defy employer demands for secrecy involving immoral, illegal or harmful conduct. And when they do speak up, lawmakers and courts are increasingly willing to back them up.</p>
<p>The #MeToo movement might be the first mass whistleblower event. But it’s probably not the last, which means we should expect the duty of loyalty to fall further from the legal pedestal on which it once stood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth C. Tippett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Workers are increasingly not keeping their employers’ secrets secret, as evidenced by the mass whistleblower event that is the #MeToo movement.Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1098182019-01-14T16:28:00Z2019-01-14T16:28:00ZScotland: Salmond court debacle could kill off Sturgeon’s hopes of new SNP independence surge<p>A Scottish <a href="http://www.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S5/SB_16-62_Judicial_Review.pdf">judicial review</a> hearing has rarely ended with such high drama as it did outside the <a href="https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/supreme-courts/about-the-court-of-session">Court of Session</a> in Edinburgh on January 8.</p>
<p>Former first minister <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28835771">Alex Salmond</a> had used the fairly dry legal process of the highest civil court in the land to challenge the Scottish government (which he led until 2014), and its investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and assault brought against him by two civil servants within the administration.</p>
<p>Before the full hearing scheduled, the Scottish government conceded it had made a fundamental mistake in its recognised complaints procedure by using an officer previously involved in the case to investigate the claims against Salmond. </p>
<p>To all intents and purposes, Salmond “won” his case. A point he was not slow to make on the steps of the court. He stated that the Scottish government had suffered “abject humiliation” and its process had been “unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias” before calling for the head of the Scottish civil service, <a href="https://www.gov.scot/about/how-government-is-run/civil-service/permanent-secretary/">Leslie Evans</a>, to “consider her position”. As permanent secretary, Evans was responsible for the overall complaints procedure and the appointment of any investigating officers.</p>
<h2>All about the process</h2>
<p>Judicial review is a historic procedure designed to make sure decision making by authorities is carried out in a legal and fair way. Particularly important is the concept of “procedural impropriety” – the process around making the decision must follow basic rules of natural justice.</p>
<p>These can vary according to the nature of the decision, but key is a lack of bias – even the appearance of bias can render the outcome void. So the use of an investigator who had previous contact with the women who made the complaints was fatal to the Scottish government’s own report.</p>
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<p>As dramatic and significant as this climbdown was (not least to the accusers), ultimately it is a side-show. The actual substance of the complaints against Salmond were not given a second glance by the judge, Paul Cullen. This decision was solely focused on procedure.</p>
<p>The shock that echoed around Scottish politics in August 2018 was not because of the governmental inquiry, but the fact that it was serious enough to involve a referral to the police. Police Scotland’s investigation into potential criminal behaviour is ongoing and is not at all affected by Salmond’s victory in the Court of Session.</p>
<h2>Implications for Sturgeon</h2>
<p>Yet the error made by the government in the application of the complaints process seems to have grown deeper following the court’s decision. This is due to the current first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s role in the whole situation. It has been revealed that she met or spoke to Salmond five times after the investigation began in early 2018.</p>
<p>In normal circumstances a meeting between two high-level SNP politicians with a close relationship would not merit much comment. However, these were not normal times; the head of the Scottish government was meeting with a senior party figure being investigated for serious allegations brought by employees of her government. Questions were raised. </p>
<p>In her defence, Sturgeon has claimed she was acting in her party leader role rather than her official one. This line of argument was weakened when it was revealed that also present was her chief of staff –- a party position, but also paid as a government employee. And the meeting was not minuted, which deepens the problem.</p>
<p>Ostensibly this looks like a breach of the published complaints procedure against (current and former) government ministers, which states that the first minister can have no involvement at all in the investigation process until it is fully completed. </p>
<p>In response to opposition parties’ requests, Sturgeon has now referred herself to an <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13090578.Ministerial_code_role_for_ex_prosecutor/">independent standards committee</a> to see if she breached the ministerial code. This is chaired by James Hamilton – an ex criminal prosecutor from Northern Ireland. It has been used six times since the Scottish government was established in 1999.</p>
<p>Ironically, the last time was when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/oct/25/alex-salmond-ministerial-code-eu-legal-advice">Salmond referred himself</a> over the existence of legal advice on an independent Scotland joining the EU. He was cleared, although the code needed to be reworded on the issues around advice.</p>
<h2>Government or party?</h2>
<p>Superficially, it looks like Salmond has used his inner party authority to demand meetings with the first minister despite the inappropriateness of such a move. Sturgeon has however stood by her officials, including Evans, and the complaints procedure, which still remains intact despite Salmond’s court case. Notably she has also stood by the complainers’ rights to pursue their action. This division could have internal party consequences. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253667/original/file-20190114-43520-16sz1zd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Permanent secretary Leslie Evans is Scotland’s most senior civil servant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gov.scot/about/how-government-is-run/civil-service/permanent-secretary/">Scottish Government</a></span>
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<p>Although Salmond resigned his party membership to fight his case, alongside him in court were leading veterans of the SNP: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11533691">Kenny MacAskill</a>, the ex-justice secretary who <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/kenny-macaskill-alex-salmond-case-shows-agenda-of-sturgeon-s-inner-circle-1-4854018">used his newspaper platform</a> to attack Sturgeon; and <a href="http://www.parliament.scot/gd/msps/currentmsps/27956.aspx">Tricia Marwick</a>, ex-presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament. This had the look of someone rallying the troops for battle.</p>
<p>Sturgeon correctly rejected the idea that she was involved in a conspiracy against Salmond – the problem is, the only people raising such an accusation come from within the SNP or the broader independence movement.</p>
<p>Even if things are only at the phoney war stage, the split could not have come at a worse stage as the Brexit crisis creeps towards the potential chaos of the rejection of Theresa May’s deal.</p>
<p>A successful demand for a second Scottish independence referendum would need a unified and strong Yes campaign. A police investigation, standards committee involvement and the machinations of supporters of the former first minister will not help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick McKerrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Brexit mired in doubt, it could be said the stars are aligning for Scottish independence. But now it looks like the SNP could self-combust after the government’s humiliating court defeat.Nick McKerrell, Lecturer in Law, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.